Salute to Adventurers eBook

He took them off, sash, breeches, jerkin, turban,
and all, and stood up in his shirt. The other
two I stripped myself, and so drunk were they that
they entered into the spirit of the thing, and themselves
tore at the buttons. Then with Ringan’s
sword behind them, the three marched out of doors.

There we found their companions stripped and sullen,
with Faulkner and the men to guard them. We made
up neat parcels of their clothes, and I extorted their
names, all except one who was too far gone in drink.

“To-morrow, gentlemen,” I said, “I
will send back your belongings, together with the
tar and feathers, which you may find useful some other
day. The night is mild, and a gentle trot will
keep you from taking chills. I should recommend
hurry, for in five minutes the dogs will be loosed.
A pleasant journey to you.”

They moved off, and then halted and apparently were
for returning. But they thought better of it,
and presently they were all six of them racing and
stumbling down the hill in their shifts.

The Quaker stretched his legs and lit a pipe.
“Was it not a scurvy trick of fate,” he
observed to the ceiling, “that these poor lads
should come here for a night’s fooling, and find
the best sword in the Five Seas?”

CHAPTER XIII.

I STUMBLE INTO A GREAT FOLLY.

I never breathed a word about the night’s doings,
nor for divers reasons did Ringan; but the story got
about, and the young fools were the laughing-stock
of the place. But there was a good deal of wrath,
too, that a trader should have presumed so far, and
I felt that things were gathering to a crisis with
me. Unless I was to suffer endlessly these petty
vexations, I must find a bold stroke to end them.
It annoyed me that when so many grave issues were
in the balance I should have these troubles, as if
a man should be devoured by midges when waiting on
a desperate combat.

The crisis came sooner than I looked for. There
was to be a great horse-racing at Middle Plantation
the next Monday, which I had half a mind to attend,
for, though I cared nothing for the sport, it would
give me a chance of seeing some of our fellows from
the York River. One morning I met Elspeth in
the street of James Town, and she cried laughingly
that she looked to see me at the races. After
that I had no choice but go; so on the Monday morning
I dressed myself with care, mounted my best horse,
and rode to the gathering.

’Twas a pretty sight to see the spacious green
meadow, now a little yellowing with the summer heat,
set in the girdle of dark and leafy forest. I
counted over forty chariots which had brought the rank
of the countryside, each with its liveried servant
and its complement of outriders. The fringe of
the course blazed with ladies’ finery, and a
tent had been set up with a wide awning from which
the fashionables could watch the sport. On the
edge of the woods a multitude of horses were picketed,
and there were booths that sold food and drink, merry-go-rounds
and fiddlers, and an immense concourse of every condition
of folk, black slaves and water-side Indians, squatters
from the woods, farmers from all the valleys, and
the scum and ruck of the plantations. I found
some of my friends, and settled my business with them,
but my eyes were always straying to the green awning
where I knew that Elspeth sat.